The facility was deathly quiet today. I ran about looking for Mr Red. I wanted to ask him about the cipher he gave me. I wanted to ask if he had any more answers to the storm of questions in my mind. I scoured the compound back to front, as sprawling as it is. Alas, I had no luck. So, I decided to take one of my reader’s advice, I decided to look for Mr Blue. I knew him the least. So, I guessed if anyone could be the traitor, it could be him. It was worth a try to see if he would succumb to pressure if questioned.
Compared to Red, Blue was easier to find. I stumbled across his office during one of my rounds searching for Red. The door was a very pale blue. I reached for the handle and it clicked open. As I walked in, I felt as if there were eyes everywhere. I was definitely being watched. The hairs on the back of my neck stood as I began to feel uncomfortable. It was as if my sixth sense was firing off alarm bells, telling me to get out of here. Then, something moved.
Click. Click. Click.
I heard this clicking sound as I noticed the room I was standing in was lined with puppets. The clicking came from one of them. It was a wooden one with vacant white eyes, its mouth was clicking open and close. It went on for a bit before it suddenly jumped out at me.
“Stop!”
I heard a familiar child-like voice shout out. As the command was said, the puppet stopped midair and fell to the ground limp/ Behind me, a young child wearing a blue hoodie stood. He gave me a cheeky smirk.
“I would like to apologise for my security. They were simply doing their job. You would have died you know?”
I tried to shrug it off.
“Well, what’s new in the Company…”
“So, what can I help you with?”
“I can’t find Red, he told me to look for him after I solved one his puzzles.”
“Ah, Red and his puzzles. He loves them. If you don’t mind, can you tell me what the puzzle was about?”
“I really shouldn’t. I wouldn’t want to put everyone on edge.”
“Don’t worry about it. I am not the type to be on edge. Especially if I have nothing to hide.”
“Red’s cipher said that there was a traitor among the founders.”
“I see. Do you think I am the traitor?”
As he said this, all the puppets in the room began rattling. Their eyes glowed red. I thought, This is it, this is how I am going to die… mauled by puppets… not the best way to go. Then, laughter.
“Hahaha! The look on your face! I am sure you shat bricks when I did that. Don’t worry, I am not the traitor. Green got me into this and took me in as a father. I know nothing about the outside world and frankly don’t give a damn about all this Inanis business. I think it is more likely that Red is the traitor and he was just confessing to you. Or, he was just messing about with you. All in all, don’t worry about it! I am sure we will find Red soon.”
His words did seem genuine at the time. So, I decided to believe him and go off to continue my search for Red. I considered talking to Green about it, considering that he was my father. However, I decided against it, partly because I didn’t stumble across him during my search.
As I walked through the same corridors for what felt like the hundredth time, something was different this time. Something seeped from under one of the doors. It was dark red.
No. No. No. This couldn’t be!
I inched forward. I reached to the door. I needed to know what was behind the door. At the same time, alarm bells were blaring in my head. The door creaked open and something crashed to the ground with a loud thud. It was Mr Red… He was dead.
I couldn’t tell it was him at first as his arms were torn out of their sockets and his face was bashed in but once I saw his bloodstained shirt and torn red tie, I knew that it was him.
I fell to my knees, hands covering my mouth. I felt like I wanted to let out a scream. I needed to shout. I didn’t know Red well but he was nice to me. He was one of the closest things to a friend I had in the Company. To see him like this… it destroyed me.
Red seemed to be the biggest mystery when it comes to abilities. I never really knew what he could do as he could do just about anything. So, who could have done this? Could it have been Blue? Could it have been Green? I didn’t expect my answer to be found so quickly.
“I did it.” A voice said behind me. “He was going to get in my way. This is the same scenario as the 346th loop.”
I turned and saw Green, he wore a slightly torn up but bloodied shirt, his green tie nowhere to be seen.
“What the hell are you talking about? You are the agent of Inanis? You are the traitor?”
“Yes.”
“Why? You formed this Company to stop Inanis, not join him.”
“It is a long story and in this corridor, I will tell you about it. Yes, I formed this Company to stop Inanis. It was formed because Inanis willed it to be. He set everything in motion. Your quest to stop Inanis will lead to the forming of this Company.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I lied to you when I said I was your father. That is beyond the truth. I had an influence over your life but I did not physically create you. So, I guess I am your father on a more… figurative sense.”
“Then, who the hell are you?”
“Why… I am you…”
“What?” I felt confused. Then, Green rolled up his sleeve and showed me a birthmark on his arm. A birthmark I had. This was impossible.
“Do you remember Time After Time? After a decade or so of being in this Company, trying to stop Inanis, you will come to realise that to stop Inanis you will need to go back in time and form the Company. Or else, it wouldn’t exist and Inanis would awaken. As time goes by, you will realise that you’d look more and more like me. Your spirit would break slowly as your destiny solidifies. You would use Time After Time and go back to the past, before you were born. This allows you to bypass the curse of the Entity as you cannot de-age beyond your life. It was a loophole.
You will meet up with Red first. Then, you will pick up Blue from his old family. You will conduct multiple experiments with a lady named Evangeline Green, to create your own Entities. Your own personal army of monsters to fight against Inanis should he awaken. No matter how hard you try, you will fall in love with Eva. With Eva, you adopt an orphan child named Michael and you cause a traumatic event that triggers the existence of an Entity. Then, Inanis will take control of you and make you kill the love of your life. Filled with guilt and regret, you would use Time After Time to try and kill yourself as a child but you don’t have the stones to do it. Young Michael was too innocent, he didn’t know the atrocities he would grow to commit.”
As Green was speaking, tears were trickling down his face.
“H-how many times has this happened? How many times have we had this conversation?”
“This is currently the 1,762nd iteration of this conversation.”
“So, I am a prisoner of my own destiny?”
“You are. You will think you aren’t but when the time comes, you will see the truth.”
“But your powers, they are different than mine.”
“Oh, you mean my glowy eye trick, making me able to control your actions.” He pulled out a cracked green rock from his pocket. “This is an unnamed Entity that I kept personally to build the illusion.”
“Why all the smoke and mirrors? Why not tell me the truth?”
“Because it was pointless to tell you the truth. In a previous loop, you found out almost immediately. Everything still happened but that version of you suffered more mentally as he had more time to live with his pain. To tell you the truth, your days are all off. In the entries, you have tried to keep track of how many days have gone by but due to the unique properties of this facility, temporally, you are not even close to being correct. But that doesn’t matter. What comes next… that will be up to you.”
He pulled out his revolver and dropped it onto the ground.
“What will it be Michael? What will it be this loop?”
Instinctively, I picked up the gun and pointed it at him. I was shaking so badly. I felt inclined to pull the trigger but it made me wonder how many times I have done this. If I don’t shoot, will he live? If he lives, what will he do? My head was pounding with the sheer number of thoughts running through my head. I couldn’t process everything. I had to decide. I had to decide and live with whatever happened.
I lowered my gun.
Green simply smiled and nodded as he pulled out another one and pointed it at his head.
BANG!
The old man dropped to the ground.
“NO!” I shouted as I ran to him. I noticed something shiny in the back of his head… his Eurhythmics…
I pulled it out and kept it for myself. I will probably go to Dr. Robert’s and ask for his permission to use it. Then, I will understand everything.
I was always craving answers but now… with the answers… I feel even more shitty. I wonder if this loop will be different.
All the truths are about to be revealed in excruciating detail. Tune in next week when all the answers are revealed!
You, the reader, are a character in this story. In what I call "Interactive Writing", you are encouraged to participate in the story. How? You may ask. Well, like I said earlier, you are a character in this story. You may not be directly referenced individually in the story but the main character will respond to your comments (or rather me, as the writer, will be responding as the main character). Your comments WILL influence the outcome of the story in one way or another. Be careful, you may accidentally kill the main character, in which case, the season ends and after that... Well, we'll keep that a surprise for now.
Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1 - Man In the Mirror
Chapter 2 - Mr Green
Chapter 3 - Time After Time
Chapter 4 - The Study and Zeppelin
Chapter 5 - Blank Space
Chapter 6 - Mr. Blue
Chapter 7 - Eurhythmics
Chapter 8 - Rolling Stones
Chapter 9 - Family Portrait
